


When a Snake Meets a Dragon

by PrincessYuna



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 07:15:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23467492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessYuna/pseuds/PrincessYuna
Summary: Villain kids do not make friends, they make alliances, and even those are short lived. Mal and Mad Maddy used to be inseparable, but thanks to Mal’s jealousy that relationship quickly went sour. One messed up prank was enough to break the bond between Mal and Uma. Sometime over the course of their childhoods’ Jay and Harry’s camaraderie turned to hatred. Through it all, it seems the only partnership that ever lasted was between Mal and Jay. They stuck together through it all, from their early days on the Isle of the Lost to their older years in Auradon. This is their story.
Relationships: Jay & Mal (Disney), Jay/Mal (Disney)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 26





	When a Snake Meets a Dragon

**Author's Note:**

> I've been really interested in Mal and Jay's friendship and it's different dynamics. The two have some really great moments in the books and a couple in the films as well, but nothing ever fully explored their long lasting friendship in any real meaningful way. I also feel like there might have been some teenage romantic explorations there in their past, but that's more head cannon than anything else. So this fic is really just me exploring different moments in their relationship. It's nothing really linear, it's going to be very episodic, but hopefully you enjoy. This is a sort of grittier take on the Isle of the Lost, so there's a lot more swearing, but I'm not used to actually using swear words in my writing, so I did my best. Probably mostly going to be from Jay's perspective because he's my boy and I love him. Ok, that's enough out of me, enjoy.

Jay and Mal would have never have called each other friends, no one on the Isle of the Lost had friends, but they had developed a companionship that had survived for years. The two villain kids had met when they were young after Jay had stolen some merchandise from the Bargain Castle. Jay had been helping Jafar set prices for his most recent haul, even at such a young age the boy could bring in a fair amount of damaged appliances and dented costume jewellery to sell in the shop. Suddenly, there was a loud bang and Maleficent burst through the door, still as intimidating as ever despite her now diminished size. Trailing behind her was a girl around Jay’s age with a tangled mess of purple hair, shocking acid green eyes, and a snarl to match her mother’s.

“Jafar!” Screamed Maleficent. “That little urchin of yours stole some of the best velvet robes out of my shop.”

“Do you have evidence of this so called thievery?” asked Jafar, raising an eyebrow.

“My daughter spotted him jumping out the window with his arms full of _my_ robes.”

“That’s ridiculous. My Jay would never allow himself to get caught.” Jafar gave his son a look that would have made a lesser boy quake.

“Well it was him,” Interjected Mal. “I know it was. I saw him.”

Jay glared at the girl and she scowled right back.

“And you’re going to give them back,” Snarled Maleficent. “Or else you’ll suffer the consequences.”

Jafar wiped away a bead of nervous sweat from his forehead, but otherwise pretended to keep his cool under the icy glare of the evil fairy.

“Come with me to the back room,” he said. “I believe I have a few moth eaten robes in my stock. They might be yours.”

“Humph,” Maleficent replied as she and Mal followed him.

“Leave your daughter with my boy,” said Jafar. “I’m sure they have much to discuss.”

Maleficent gestured for Mal to stay behind and the two villains passed behind the curtain and into the stock room. Jay and Mal had continued to look at each other with undisguised hatred throughout their parents’ discussion, but the presence of their elders had forced them to bite their tongues. Once his father was gone, Jay held nothing back.

“How dare you rat me out you little bitch,” he growled. “You’ll pay.”

Jay had a good 4 inches on the girl, so he towered over her as he went to grab a hank of her hair. Mal was too quick for him, and she lithely ducked out of his grasp and laughed at him.

“As if you could do anything to me dumb-ass. You can’t even sneak out a window fast enough not to get caught.”

“Fuck. I checked and there was no one there. How the hell did I miss you?”

“I’m good at hiding away in the shadows. You might want to figure that out for yourself before you go robbing my place again.”

“Whatever. There was mostly shit in there anyway.”

“Seems like that’s all you manage to steal so…”

Jay was mid lunge when the children’s parents came out of the back room.

“Mal, take these.” Maleficent tossed a bundle of fabric into the girl’s arms. “Jafar, I trust I won’t catch your boy sneaking around my castle again.”

“Oh don’t worry,” Jafar firmly clutched the boy’s shoulder. “I’ll be having a talk with Jay.”

Maleficent closed in on the boy. “Next time you won’t get off so easily. I hear the penalty for stealing in Agrabah is to cut off the thief’s hand. Sounds like a fitting punishment to me.”

“As if I would want to steal any of the mouldy shit you sell.” Jay growled before spitting in her face.

“How dare you!” Maleficent shrieked.

Mal stifled a giggle behind her mother’s back.

“Shut up you bastard!” Maleficent shouted at the girl. “And you boy, I won’t forget this.”

“I bet you won’t” Jay said with a smirk.

Maleficent swept out of the room with as much dignity as one could while wiping spit off their face.

“Come along Mal.” She called behind her shoulder. “We’ve spent enough time in the company of this riff raff.”

Mal followed her mother out of the shop with a glint of mischief in her eyes.

Jay got a pretty bad beating from his dad after that encounter. He called his son a disgrace for being stupid enough to be caught by someone as powerful as Maleficent. She was sure to hold a grudge against both Jay and Jafar, and that would not make things easy for Jafar’s future schemes. This was far from the first beating Jay received from his father, and he got away with only a few bruises. Still, it solidified his desire to get revenge on that little bitch Mal. He couldn’t wait to pay her back.

A few days after the encounter, Jay was wandering the halls of Dragon Elementary, late to class as usual. He took advantage of the emptiness of the hallways to check a few lockers for anything worth stealing. He’d already pocketed a few change purses full of lunch money and a couple nice pencil cases that his classmates’ parents would be forced to buy back from his father’s shop. He was rifling through the locker of one of the Tremaine girls when he heard a slam come from in front of him. It was the little devil herself, Mal, leaning against the locker and blocking him from moving forward.

“Hey Jay,” she said coolly.

“What the fuck do you want Mal?” he spat.

“I have a little offer for you.”

“Why would I want to hear anything out of you?”

“Because I can help you dumb-ass.”

“Do you really think I’d fall for that shit?”

“You stood up to my mom. Nobody does that. You’ve got balls and I could use a partner in crime.”

“What the hell would be in it for me?”

“Power, and the chance to steal what you want without getting caught. I’d help you make sure you didn’t get caught.”

Jay had to admit he was intrigued. He didn’t trust Mal, not a bit, but his father frequently lectured him on the importance of “evil networking”. He knew Mal had a reputation as bad as his own. Together they could rule the school and frighten off anyone that dared tofuck with them. Plus, it gave it gave him an excellent chance to work on his revenge scheme.

“Fine, I’ll team up with you, for now,” said Jay. “What’s the plan?” My father says never to set up an evil partnership without clear terms. Whatever the fuck that means.”

“Funny, my mom says the same.” She replied. “Don’t worry, I have something in mind, but we can’t discuss it now. There are ears all over this school. Meet me in the ally outside the Bargain Castle after school. Tell no one.”

`”Works for me. I’ll be there.”

Later that afternoon, Jay headed towards the back of the Bargain Castle, making sure to keep an eye out for any obnoxious schoolmates who might be trying to follow him. The kids of two such powerful villains teaming up would be big news, and they didn’t want any unnecessary weaklings trying to sneak in on their deal. When he arrived, he checked behind the dumpsters to make sure there was no one hiding out to eavesdrop on their negotiations. 

“I already checked dumb-ass. There’s no one around,” called Mal from the steps of the rusty fire escape leading up to her bedroom.

“You sure?” replied Jay.

“You of all people should know that if there was anyone around I’d have caught them already. Get the fuck over here and we’ll have a little chat.”

Jay made his way over to the rusty step and sat down, making sure to leave as much space as possible between himself and the girl.

“So…” whispered Mal. “My mom says that every good villain team up consists of two things, brain and brawn. I’m pretty sure you know who is who here, dumb-ass.”

Jay nodded. He wasn’t much of one for thinking things through and he knew it. He much preferred to punch and kick his way out of most situations,

“Think of the power we could have,” Said Mal. “No one could stop us from doing anything, they’d be too scared of us. I could graffiti anything and no one would dare rat me out with you there with me. You could steal whatever you wanted and I’d make sure you didn’t get caught. I’d teach you about sneaking around. You’d teach me about fighting. The entire school and most of the island would become our territory and no one would fuck with us.”

Jay knew she wasn’t wrong. They could do a lot together. As much as he hated to admit it, he could probably stand to learn a thing or two about scheming and sneaking from her. Still, he couldn’t say her trusted her, and he wasn’t entering into anything without some sort of insurance.

“Fine,” He said, “But if I suspect you of fucking me over behind my back, well, let’s just say your hair won’t the only thing that’s purple. You get me?”

“Fair. Same goes to you. And if anytime we feel this… partnership isn’t helping us out, we can leave, no questions asked, alright. Although I won’t promise I won’t get back at you for backing out on me.”

“Alright, same goes for me. So I guess it’s a deal then.”

Jay hadn’t forgotten his anger at Mal for getting him caught by her mother. He just knew that his revenge would be that much sweeter if he sat and waited for the right moment. His first instinct was always to act rashly and get even as soon as possible, but this time he was going in it for the long haul. The more Mal trusted him, the better his revenge would be.

“Yep, it’s a deal,” said Mal.

“Seal it in blood?” asked Jay.

“Of course.”

Jay took a pocket knife out of his jeans pocket and took off his leather glove. He cut a small nick on his right hand and squeezed it until it started to bleed. He then handed the knife to Mal who did the same. The children shook hands and smirked at each other. It seemed to Jay that this was going to be the start of a very interesting relationship.

A few days later Mal and Jay met up at the fire escape behind the bargain castle again. It was a Saturday, so they had to be extra careful that no other villain kids were hanging around eavesdropping. Luckily, because of Maleficent’s reputation most kids stayed clear of that particular alleyway.

“I’ve been thinking,” said Mal, “and we need to come up with some sort of way to make our mark on the school. Something to show them that we rule the place now .”

“Something to make sure nobody fucks with us,” Exclaimed Jay “Like a fight!”

“No dumb-ass,” sighed Mal, “something smarter than that, something subtler. I was thinking like a giant prank.”

“Ok, well what would we do?”

“Our school principle, the Queen of Hearts, she keeps an extra wardrobe full of some of her old gowns in her office, so she can make dramatic costume changes when she wants to.”

“And what the fuck does that have to do with anything?”

“Well, I heard from her daughter Harley that the wardrobe has an extra pair of frilly heart covered old lady bloomers.”

Jay laughed, “I think I get it now. You want me to steal them?”

“Exactly. Then I’ll add a little extra… art work to them and we’ll hang them up at the main entrance for decoration.”

“Damn, I like it. So how are we going to pull this off?”

“I’ve been working on a plan.”

After dark the following day Jay and Mal met up behind the empty school building ready to pull off the most epic prank Dragon Elementary had ever seen. They had decided to cut through the school yard and enter through the backdoor. This way they would be less likely to be seen by anyone walking past the school. The yard was where the children had their daily recess, but it didn’t contain anything that could be called a playground, at least not by Auradon standards. It was full of old crates, barrels, and heaps of scrap metal that the children liked to climb on. Avoiding splinters, sharp nails, and broken glass was just part of the fun of recess. The whole yard was surrounded by a rusty chain link fence that was supposed to keep children in and thieves out, but this was the Isle, and no one was going to let a little fence get in their way. Jay gave Mal a boost up over the fence before climbing up after her. With all the practice he’d had breaking into places it was a matter of seconds before he landed on the other side of the fence. Mal pulled Jay into her hiding spot behind a stack of crates.

“Come on,” Jay groaned “What the hell are waiting for? Let’s just go break in already.”

“Shhhh” Mal slapped her hand over Jay’s mouth. “I’m listening for footsteps dumb-ass. We need to make sure no one is around who could see us go in. See, this is why I caught you when you broke into my place. You don’t fuckin’ stop and think.”

Jay seethed with anger. He was tempted to bite the hand over his mouth, but he reminded himself he was on a mission.

“Ok,” whispered Mal. “We’re good. Let’s go.”

The pair ran as fast as they could across the yard to the school’s back door. Jay pulled an antique hairpin out of his pocket. He had stolen it off of one of the Tremaine girls, she said it was real silver. She had lied, but it still came in handy. He deftly picked the lock, a skill he had mastered by the age of five. After a few seconds, there was a click and he slowly pushed the door open.

“We’re in.” he whispered.

Mal put her ear to the crack of the door and listened while Jay did his best not to cry out in frustration. This stopping and listening thing was driving him fucking crazy. He was not a patient enough person for this. Finally, Mal gestured for Jay to follow her and the two went into the building. It was pitch black inside, but Jay was prepared. He pulled a flashlight out of his pocket and shone it on the path in front of them. The Principal’s office was by the front entrance of the school, so they had a long way to go through the dark halls to get there. The pair walked as quietly as possible. Every time they reached a corner, Mal stopped to listen for footsteps. It was driving Jay damn near insane.

“Mal,” he whispered. “Who the fuck is going to be in the building in the middle of a Sunday night?”

“You never know,” Mal whispered back “But there’s no way I’m letting myself get caught. My mother will kill me. Now be fuckin’ quiet.”

After what felt like ages, they finally made it to an office with a big wooden door and a tarnished gold plaque that read “Queen of Hearts.” Once again the door was locked, but it only took Jay a few seconds to take care of that. They entered the large office and Jay took a look around for anything that might contain clothing. In the room’s centre sat a wooden desk and a large red velvet chair, so worn from use that the stuffing leaked out of holes in the upholstery. Besides that, the room contained mostly filing cabinets and other furniture typically found in a principal’s office. There was nothing at all that looked like a wardrobe where one would store gowns.

“Where the hell are the clothes?” asked Jay.

“Harley said they were hidden somewhere safe,” replied Mal “They’re all she has left from when she was a real queen. She said, and I quote, ‘Those damn dresses are more important than me.’”

“Huh, sounds like how my dad feels about me and pretty much everything in the shop.”

“You’re not wrong. Now as long as the info I got from Harley was right, the wardrobe should be right…there.”

Mal pointed to one of the many paintings of the Queen of Hearts hanging on the office wall. This one in particular showed a much younger Queen holding a rose that was dripping with a red liquid. Whether it was paint or blood was anyone’s guess. Mal gently turned the painting a quarter turn to the right. When she did, a hidden spring-loaded door opened, revealing a grand wardrobe guarded by a big iron padlock.

“Shit,” said Mal. “Harley didn’t say anything about any padlocks. I doubt that tiny little hairpin of yours is going to work on that thing.”

“Don’t worry,” He said while digging through his pockets, “I can take care of that, it might just take a little longer.”

“Fine, but be as fast as you can. I’m going to keep an eye out in case anyone is coming.”

Jay rolled his eyes, the place was very clearly dead, but he had better things to do than argue with Mal. He fished the hairpin and a small wrench out of his pocket and got to work on the padlock. It was far from the easiest lock he’d ever picked, it was made of some pretty tough steal and would require a lot of leverage and fiddling around to get it to budge. Harley wasn’t kidding about these damn dresses being the Queen of Heart’s most prized possessions. Unluckily for her, Jay was a an experienced lock picker, and he was slowly making progress.

“How’s it going over there?” Mal whispered with her ear to the office door.

“I’m getting there. Fucking relax already” replied Jay.

“Well would you hurry the fuck up! I’ve got a bad feeling.”

Jay rolled his eyes at her, leave it to a fucking girl to get scared in the dark. They had plenty of time, the school was obviously abandoned. It was a good thing too because, not that he would admit it to Mal, but the fucking lock was giving him much more trouble than he had expected. It was made out of some pretty sturdy metal and it was taking all of his strength to get it to budge. He wiped his sweaty hands on his pants and continued to work. He was almost there, he just needed to concentrate.

“Jay, I think I hear something,” whispered Mal.

“Shut up, I’ve almost got it.” Jay said without looking up from the lock.

“Someone is coming this way!”

“I said shut the fuck up!”

“Ugh, you’re such a dumb-ass, you’re going to get us caught.”

By that time Jay wasn’t listening, he was mere seconds away from finally opening the fucking lock. With one last twist of the hairpin the lock popped open in his hands.

“Shit. I got it,” he grunted.

When he looked up he realised Mal was nowhere to be seen. He wouldn’t have cared that much, except now he could definitely hear the sound of footsteps heading towards the office. That bitch cut and ran at the first sign of trouble! Of course she made sure to leave him behind to take the fall. From the sound of the footsteps he had two minutes tops before whoever it was made it to the office, and if they happened to peek in, he’d be fucked. They’d find him red handed, broken lock and all. Not that he was afraid of getting into a little trouble, but he was not looking forward to the beating he’d receive from his father when he found out that he’d been caught for the second time in one week. He looked around for a place to hide, but he never had been that great at thinking on his feet. Mal had said it herself, thinking was not his strong suit. Suddenly, the girl herself popped her head out from her hiding spot inside a little cabinet in the Queen of Hearts’ desk.

“What are you doing dumb-ass?” she whispered “You’re going to ruin everything. Hide!”

“Where?” he asked.

“In the wardrobe idiot. Hurry up. I’ll close the doors for you.”

Jay stepped inside the wardrobe and worked his way in between the heavy dresses. Mal closed the doors behind him, leaving just the smallest crack of light so he wasn’t completely in the dark. Through the crack Jay saw Mal retreat back to her hiding spot in the desk. He was shocked that she hadn’t abandoned him, and that she had actually helped him find a place to hide. Most villain kids would have jumped at the chance to escape and leave someone else to get in trouble. Maybe he had misjudged her.

The two children held their breath as the footsteps reached the office door and then stopped. The wardrobe smelled of mothballs and something uncomfortably sharp and metallic pressed against Jay’s back, but he didn’t move a muscle. He heard the office door open and someone come inside. 

“Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear” said a voice. “The queen is right I _am_ an idiot. I forgot to give her that very important file. I must get it to her immediately or it will be off with my head for sure this time.”

It was the White Rabbit, who now served as the Queen of Hearts’ secretary. Jay almost felt bad for him. He was one of the many villain sidekicks King Beast sent to the Isle alongside their more evil masters. Some of them, like his father’s parrot Iago, really deserved their punishment for their own misdeeds. Others, like the White Rabbit, seemed like they were just trying to do their jobs and get by in life. So now even on the Isle, the White Rabbit continued to follow the Queen’s orders or else suffer the consequences at her hands. Jay figured that was just how the Isle worked. Even in a place this low, those at the top still needed somebody to step on, and the White Rabbits of the world served that purpose nicely.

There was the sound of a drawer opening and the shuffling of papers. Jay continued to stay as still as possible. The White Rabbit was just a few feet from the place where the wardrobe was concealed, and the Rabbit was known to have excellent hearing. Luckily for the children, he seemed far too worried about his own fate to realise anything was amiss.

“Here it is!” said the White Rabbit. “Thank god I’ve found it. Oh my ears and whiskers! Is it that late already? I better get a move on or the Queen will have my tail.”

Jay heard the White Rabbits footsteps quickly leave the office and retreat down the hallway. Eventually they faded into complete silence, but Jay didn’t leave his hiding spot. He waited for Mal to tell him the coast was clear. After what felt to Jay like years, the door of the wardrobe opened and Mal stood in front of him.

“He should be gone now.” She whispered.

“Shit. You actually helped me hide.” Jay said. “I thought for sure you’d left me here to be the fall guy.”

“Why the hell would I? If I did, I would never be able to pull off the most epic prank this school has ever seen. We’re partners in crime now dumb-ass.”

“I guess so,” he shrugged. “Now let’s take a look in that closet.”

Jay flung the wardrobe doors open the rest of the way and revealed several large and heavy dresses in various shades of red, black, white, and gold. At one time they were probably quite regal looking, but now they were way past the point of looking worse for wear. The satins were frayed, the velvets had balding patches, and everything was faded and stained. Jay found it fucking pathetic that the Queen of Hearts continued to cherish these dirty reminders of her former glory. His dad did the same thing at home and it never stopped being embarrassing to him. He opened a few drawers until at last he found his target. Neatly folded in the bottom drawer were five pairs of faded cotton bloomers. They even had lacy trim and little hearts embroidered all over them. At least his dad wasn’t that embarrassing.

“There’s the granny panties!” exclaimed Mal, “Damn, Harley wasn’t making it up, they’re fucking ridiculous.”

“Shit, you’re right”, said Jay “Are we just taking one pair? Or do you want them all?”

“Take all five. I think I can find a use for them all.”

“Got it.”

Jay grabbed the stack of bloomers and went to close the wardrobe doors, when suddenly he had an idea. He pushed aside the heavy gowns revealing a shelf built into the back of the closet. There sat a dented old jewellery box, the very object that had been pressing into his back as he hid from the White Rabbit. He lifted the lid to reveal a small pair of gold earrings and a gold signet ring with a heart. It was tarnished, but the gold seemed to be real. His father would be fucking thrilled at this score.

“Mind if I pocket these?” he asked, already taking them out of the box.

“Go right ahead.” She answered. “I don’t care about accessories.”

“Cool, then let’s get the fuck out of here.”

He slipped the jewellery into his pocket, placed the box back on the shelf, and covered it back up with the gowns. The kids locked the wardrobe back up, closed the hidden panel in the wall, and straightened the Queen’s portrait. When they were all done, it looked like they’d never even been there.

Their next stop was Mal’s locker to pick up some more supplies. Her locker was easy to spot among the rows in the hallway, as it was covered in purple and green graffiti of dragons and flames. Mal didn’t even bother to use the combination, she just hit the locker in just the right spot and it came open with ease.

“Let’s see… what do we want… “She said as she dug through the locker.

Jay took a peak over the girl’s shoulder and was not surprised to see very few books and an awful lot of cans of spray paint and permanent markers.

“Here, she said. “Take this… and this… and hold this.”

Jay quickly reacted as she threw him several cans of spray paint in black, purple, green, red, and gold. Luckily, he was coordinated enough to catch them all, because Mal threw fast and one dropped metal can would surely have been loud enough to get them caught by anyone still in the building.

“Fuck. I think that’s enough,” said Jay.

“Yeah I guess that will do,” Mal said.

She closed the locker, grabbed a couple of spray cans from Jay, and the pair quietly headed to the buildings main entrance to enact the final stage of their plan.

“You go into the janitors closest and grab a hammer, some nails, and a ladder,” Mal said. “It might be locked, but you know how to handle that.

“I’m on it” replied Jay.

Jay headed over to the janitor’s main supply closet while Mal uncapped a can of spray paint and got to work on the first pair of bloomers. The closet was locked, but it only took Jay a few seconds to get it open. He easily found all the supplies Mal had asked for and brought them over to the main entrance. When he was done, Mal was still hard at work spray painting the bloomers.

“You keep watch,” she said, not looking up from her work. I’m almost done.”

After about fifteen more minutes Mal’s masterpiece was complete. Three of the five pairs of bloomers spelled out the phrase “long live evil”. The other two pairs were painted with a silhouette of Maleficent and a silhouette of Jafar. It would be obvious to anyone with half a brain who was responsible for these new decorations, but there’d be no actual proof that the Queen of Hearts could use to justify punishing them. It was the perfect scheme.

“Fuckin’ cool,” said Jay “Now we’ve just got to hang them over the entrance.”

“I’ll do it,” said Mal. “You hold the ladder, and you better keep it steady dumb-ass or I will kick you in the face.”

Jay was not proud of how much he was taking orders from someone else, but Mal’s logic continued to be sound, and he couldn’t argue with it. He was much stronger than she was and holding the ladder was just easier for him. Mal took the hammer and nails and quickly got to work hanging up the first three pairs of bloomers. When she got to hanging up the word evil though, things got tough. Mal’s arms were not exactly long, and she had to really lean over to the side to hammer the nail in. The more she leaned, the more the ladder started to tip, and Jay had a brief flash of evil genius. This was his chance get his revenge on Mal for snitching on him. All he had to do was let the ladder tip, maybe just give it a little nudge. The girl would fall and if he was really lucky, she’d break a leg and be stranded at the scene of the crime. It would be fucking perfect. Yet, for some stupid fucking reason he couldn’t bring himself to push the ladder over. He kept thinking about how she had helped him hide, and about he had called them partners in crime without any hesitation. Maybe she’d be worth keeping around. At the same time, the revenge he was longing for was right there, literally dangling right fucking in front of him.

Before he could help it along, the ladder was tipping over of its own accord and Mal was falling. By some strange instinct, one that went against everything his father had ever taught him, Jay was moving to help save her. In one quick action he caught the girl and stopped the ladder from falling over. As soon as he realised what he had done, he hastily set Mal on the ground and took a few steps away from her.

“Shit. Nice catch.” She said with relief.

“Don’t fuckin’ think anything of it, “he shrugged. “If you broke your leg I’d either have to carry you home or let you stay here and snitch on me. I wasn’t about to let that shit happen.”

“Well like I said dumb-ass, we’re partners now.”

“Yeah, I guess so. Let me move the ladder over a bit so you can hang up the rest.”

After a few more minutes the job was done. The next morning every student and staff member would know who ruled the school, but no one would be able to actually prove they did it. Jay and Mal put back all their supplies and quietly snuck back out the school’s back door without any more run-ins. That night, Jay walked back to his father’s shop with some extra swagger in his step. He had just pulled off the prank of the year, and he had some real gold jewellery in his pockets. His father would be fucking thrilled. By the time Jay got home, Jafar was already snoring away in his armchair. He’d have to wait until the morning to show him his score, but he knew it would be more than enough to get rid of any bitterness leftover from his run-in with Maleficent. That night, for probably the first time in his young life, Jay went to sleep excited for what the next day would hold, and even more shockingly, excited to go to school.

Jay was running late the next morning, which in itself wasn’t unusual, except for the reasoning behind it. His father was so excited when Jay had shown him the gold jewellery that he had actually made him breakfast. Since most mornings the boy didn’t even bother to eat, it had taken him longer to get out the door than usual. Jay hadn’t even known his father had known how to cook. Not only that, his father had actually fucking sat and ate breakfast with him, an event Jay couldn’t recall ever happening before. His father had spent the whole meal raving about how his son had stolen real gold and about how it was only a matter of time before he found them a magic lamp too. The topic of the original owner of the jewellery was left unspoken between the two of them. The coat of arms on the signet ring was obviously that of the Queen of Hearts, and she would pay a pretty penny to get back those remnants of her former glory. Jay was definitely safe from any kind of punishment from his dad for the next few days.

When he did finally walk into the school building that morning, he saw exactly what he hoped he would. Kids were gathered by the main entrance pointing and laughing at the big-ass spray-painted bloomers hanging like banners on the wall. As soon as the kids started to notice he’d arrived all eyes turned from the bloomers towards Jay. Kids cheered and shouted out “long live evil”. Jay and Mal would be the talk of the school for weeks to come.

“Sweet prank,” said Clay Clayton, giving him a fist-bump as he walked past.

“Yeah, I know,” Jay replied smugly.

He spotted Mal leaning on a locker further down the hallway and headed towards her. She gave him a little nod of acknowledgment when she saw him.

“Fuck, looks like we pulled it off,” Jay said.

“You bet your ass we did,” Mal replied. “Now the whole school knows this place is our territory, and I pity the kid who tries to fuck with us.”

“They’ll have to deal with me.” Jay his fist into his open palm as he said this,

“Correction, they’ll have to deal with us. We’re partners in crime now remember dumb-ass.”

“Yeah that’s what I meant. You’re still going to keep calling you that though?”

“What? Dumb-ass? Let’s just call it my new nickname for you, dumb-ass.”

Just then the Queen of Hearts came storming out of her office while the White Rabbit struggled to keep up behind her. Her face was so red it matched her dress and she looked angry enough to throw a kid through a window.

“Who is responsible for this?” She shouted. “Off with their heads!”

“Well I don’t know.” Replied the White Rabbit nervously. “This certainly wasn’t here when I stopped by last night. We’ll have to do a thorough investigation. I’m sure someone must know who committed this horrible defilement of your personal property.”

“When I get my hands on the perpetrators heads will roll!”

Jay and Mal just laughed at the scene the Queen of Heart’s was making. They knew that no one was going to snitch on them, not if they valued their own safety. If the Queen bothered to use her brain, she’d surely figure it out for herself. She wouldn’t dare to do anything to punish them or else she’d have to deal with their parents. The pair had gotten away with one of the best pranks Dragon Elementary had ever seen without a single consequence.

“So what the fuck do we do to follow up this?” asked Jay.

“I think I have a couple of ideas,” Mal replied. “We’ll talk about them after school.”

Jay nodded and the pair walked side by side down the hall. They had planned to make a grand entrance that day, walking into class late so that all eyes would be on them, the new rulers of the school. This had been Jay’s idea, and Mal had enthusiastically agreed the moment he had proposed it. He was starting to think that finding Mal, his partner in crime, was the best thing that ever happened to him. If only he knew what his relationship with the daughter of Maleficent would turn into.


End file.
